Durban - The 2018 ICF Junior & Under 23 Sprint World Championships get
underway in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from Thursday to Sunday and the South African
squad of nine men and women are eyeing out some strong performances against
the worlds best.

The task is a daunting one for the South African squad who very rarely see
competition as strong as the competition that they will come up against this
week, however gaining as much experience as possible for the first-timers
and building on previous experience for the others will be crucial.

Donna Hutton will be one of the old hands in the squad and she produced a
bit of history on 2016 when she qualified for both the 200m and 500m A
Finals at the Junior World Championships.

Hutton will be in her second year of Under 23
this year and will be hoping to make her mark in the 200m K1 and the 500m
K1.

The other returning face is David Rodrigues. The Gauteng man from
Dabulamanzi will be racing in the Under 23 200m K1 race and is hoping that
he can qualify for an A Final.

There are scores of under 18 paddlers taking on the challenge this year with
the likes of Jonathan Jooste and Jordy Malherbe leading the boys charge and
Jackie van der Westhuyzen, Kate Croudace, Caroline van der Linde and Keegan
Kieser in the girls races.

Jooste will be racing in the 200m K1 race while Malherbe will take part in
the 1000m K1 and 500m K1. Both are hoping for A Finals. Malherbe is only 15
years old, and is using the event to gain as much experience as possible.

Croudace will be taking on the longer race with her eyes set on an A Final
in Under 18 Girls 1000m K1, while Van der Linde is also hoping for an A
Final in the Under 18 Girls 200m K1.

Morgan Ziervogel will be taking on the Under 23 1000m K1 race.

There will only be one K2 boat taking part in the World Championships and
that will feature Keegan Kieser and Jackie van der Westhuyzen.

The pair will be racing in the Under 18 500m race and Van der Westhuyzen
will also be paddling in the 500m K1 event.

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